3 minute read
Industry good DairyNZ
by AgriHQ
JAMES EMMETT, J&C DAIRY PARTNERSHIP, GERALDINE.
Every bag tested, every bag true.
ANCALF ™ THE WORD ON THE FARM
When you’re rearing calves to boost your bottom line, getting good quality protein from every bag is number one. James Emmett doesn’t compromise on quality and knows Ancalf will get his calves up to weight faster. “Our whole farming system is based around using quality products for quality results and you can cheat yourself on one area and cost yourself and another, so it’s not really worth compromising to be honest.” James feeds his calves Ancalf to start with because of the coccidiostat and the nutrients and once they get up to proper weight, close to weaning time, he puts them on Ancalf Finisher. Any weaker calves quickly flourish and James reckons his calves put on around 10 kilos at every weigh in and manages a 10-12 week rearing stage. He knows Ancalf is not just good quality protein, but provides milk fat a good source of Butyrate for rumen development. “When our calves go out onto pasture, they’re still being fed CMR. The vitamins, minerals and proteins in Ancalf helps their development and well-being which in the long run ensures they reach their full potential as a heifer and cow.” Low fertility in South Canterbury and the wider Canterbury area seems to be an issue and according to James, one theory is that it could be a result of poor calf rearing systems in the past. Producing healthy replacements, giving calves the best start in life with a premium CMR is vital so they can become contributing and productive animals in the herd.
For more information talk to your local rural retailer or call us on 0800 809 011 ANCALF ™
Agritech has a plan
Peter Wren-Hilton says one of the key priorities now is telling the New Zealand story in potential export markets to let them know NZ is focused on producing high-quality food and fibre and also high-quality technology to make that happen.
TONY BENNY
THE New Zealand agritech sector is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to grow its exports with $11.4 million Budget funding despite covid-19 disruption.
Though the launch of the Agritech Industry Transformation Plan in April had to be delayed work has continued behind the scenes to realise the Government’s desire to take NZ farming technology to the world.
“We’ve been talking to the Government pretty much every week over the past three months about the plan,” Agritech NZ executive director Peter Wren-Hilton says.
The plan, the result of nearly a year of consultation between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and other government departments and industry, identifies three high-impact projects, a horticulture robotics initiative, an agritech venture capital fund and the Farm 2050 Global Nutrients Project.
But with NZ locked down and borders closed progress has been limited.
“There are challenges now facing the sector, which probably weren’t as apparent prior to covid-19,” he says.
“The closed borders affected our ability to export and build new overseas markets because of people’s inability to travel.
“Investment has also been affected. A number of agritech companies were in the process of raising funds and a lot of those funding rounds have been put into hibernation as investors look at their investment portfolios and try and work out what the future looks like.”
Wren-Hilton says one of the key priorities now is telling the NZ story in potential export markets, making it known NZ is ready for a post-covid world and the agritech sector, farmers and producers are still focused on producing high-quality food and fibre and also highquality technology to make that happen.
Before covid the NZ story was being told at international events like the Irish Ploughing Championships attended by 125,000 people a day with the theme of Powered by Place, stressing the affinity of the agritech industry with the land.
“What we didn’t try to do was to say our robotic technology is better than the Israelis or the Dutch because that’s a
Agritech New Zealand executive director Peter Wren-Hilton says the launch of the Agritech Industry Transformation Plan was delayed by covid-19 but work continued.
horrible rabbit hole to go down,” WrenHilton says.
“You say that and then they release a new version and you look stupid so instead we focused much more on our cultural awareness of the land, the
